The Mom Stop: Bush set example worth following

Tuesday

I was watching the news about former President George H.W. Bush’s death last week when my 9-year-old daughter walked in the room.

“The president died?” she asked, worried.

“No, not the current president, but a former president, the one who was president when I was your age,” I told her.

“Whoa. And he was still alive?” she asked, inferring that my childhood must have been eons ago. I suppose in the political world, it really was.

I was born in the early days of President Ronald Reagan and spent the bulk of my formative years with Reagan and Bush in the White House. There are a few major news events I remember as a kid - for instance, the fall of the Berlin Wall. I remember Bush coming on TV and announcing the start of the first Gulf War when I was in fourth grade. I was 9. When Bush lost his second run for president in 1992 to Bill Clinton, I was 11, and I remember feeling such a loss for the 41st president. My parents weren’t overtly political, and probably voted for Clinton.

But I remember feeling so bad that Bush wasn’t re-elected that the day after the election, I pulled my scented Lisa Frank rainbow stationery out of my desk at home and wrote him a letter, telling him I was sorry, but thanking him for his service. I also drew him a picture. To this day, I can’t remember what the drawing was of or what exactly I wrote President Bush. But I still distinctly remember how sad I was for him.

It was the first and only time I wrote a president. Not sure if the letter was ever mailed, as I never got a reply. But that letter came to mind on Nov. 30, when the news broke of Bush’s death.

As my oldest daughter watched the news with me last week, watching a clip about Bush’s service dog standing watch over the coffin as it laid in state - I couldn’t help but be thankful to grow up in a different political time, when society wasn’t as seemingly divided.

Sure, there was the Cold War, but it was over before I was even really aware of what it was. I grew up in a time of relative peace and economic prosperity - before 9/11, before the second invasion of Iraq. It was a time before school shootings - or mass shootings of any kind - became a common occurrence. It was a time when you didn’t worry about terrorists or global warming, when social media didn’t exist - because the internet wasn’t widespread, yet, either. Only one of my friends’ parents had a cellphone, and it remained in a bag in the car.

As I watched dignitaries on TV pay their final respects to Bush last week - as I witnessed 95-year-old Bob Dole struggle to stand and give a final salute, I mourned for Bush, and in a way, for so many other leaders of the “greatest generation.” I’m worried for this country’s political future, for my children’s future. And Bush’s death marks the loss of a humble leader who dedicated his life to this country. Bush, like John McCain, nearly died fighting for it.

I don’t consider myself a member of any political party. But I am thankful for Bush’s leadership and legacy - and hope that younger generations take note and try to follow in his footsteps.Lydia Seabol Avant writes The Mom Stop for The Tuscaloosa News in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Reach her at lydia.seabolavant@tuscaloosanews.com.